Muslim Brotherhood mass arrests and "the rule of Law"
By Assad Elepty
Yet again the media is in frenzy, a wash with reports about the mass arrests of the Muslim Brotherhood. Even the Einstein’s at Amnesty International have thrown their hat into the ring by releasing an official statement condemning the government.
To the ill informed reader, and on face value, it would appear President Mubarak is a ruthless power hungry dictator determined to hold on to power.
Reality is, Mubarak does not need to put the boot into the Brotherhood, irrespective of clamp downs the NDP will regain power with its hands down. The very best the brotherhood have ever achieved is 88 seats (20%) of parliament.
However once the dust kicked up by the ill informed media vultures settles, they need to be reminded there is infact a serious and critical principal of society at Jeopardy.
I hope the good people at amnesty are reading this.
This principal is called “the rule of law”. The rule of law is the backbone and core of any civilised nation.
This principal commences with the notion that “All men are created equal”. Immediately following from that is the interconnecting principal that “No State or governance shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the Equal protection of the laws.”
At the same time, there is a reciprocal obligation that requires, “All citizens, groups, entities and organisations to be subject to the same set of laws, and requires full respect and compliance with those laws”.
The Government of the day has a lawful duty to ensure that, “every citizen complies with enacted laws”.
If necessary they must deploy the necessary resources to ensure civil order is not challenged or disrupted.
There after the judiciary has a responsibility to effectively deal with alleged breaches of the law”.
I will, not mince words, the media seems to have overlooked the fact that “The Muslim brothers consider they are immune and exempt from compliance with the specific laws”.
How did the media overlook this fact?
The Middle East is a unique basket of fish. The Muslim brotherhood is faithful adherents to a mixture of Islamic and Arabic culture. The brotherhood seems to be suffering “Arab honour”, intermingled with Arab rejectionist and intransigence.
This prevents the brotherhood from accepting any blame for their mass arrests nor acknowledging they like are every citizen are required to comply with the rule of law.
Arab honour impels them to seek domination. Failure to dominate dishonours them. Accepting responsibility is an anathema to their honour.
Having said that, what laws could the MB have possibly broken?
1 They are banned.
2 They run for elections as independents despite been banned from engaging in politics.
3 They use religious slogans “Islam is the solution”
4 They hold rallies and demonstrations without permits.
5 They refuse to follow lawful orders by the security forces
6 They disrupt business, traffic and cause civil unrest.
7 They ignore laws prohibiting personal attacks of other candidates.
8 They entice Mubarak by stepping, spitting and then burning a large colour poster of him.
According to Amnesty International the Mubarak Regime should just sit back do nothing and allow the Brotherhood to run wild with their defiance and extremist ideology. Amnesty need to remember this is not a one off event; the Mb antics have been repeated almost on a daily basis for 2 months.
By Amnesty’s standard and the ill informed bias media, the regime should allow the MB to set the dangerous precedent of anarchy. Citizens break the laws and no impunity is forthcoming. What a ridiculous suggestion. NO ONE is above the law of the land. The repeated provocative actions of the Brotherhood are deliberate and wilful. The regime has a duty and moral responsibility to enforce the law of the land and maintain civil order.
The crux of the problem is not the regime it is the belligerent defiance of the brotherhood to act as they like and ignore laws.
To add insult to injury, The MB is desperate to create an Islamic state at the expense of all non Muslims in Egypt. Even more horrendous, is the notion all men are equal will be immediately dismissed; social or economic equality will be based on religion.
The MB agenda will deny an equal opportunity for people to make the most of their abilities, talents and to stand equal before the law. The notion of equality as an essential part of democracy will be thrown out the door, and discrimination based on religion, will become even more predominate, than it is today.
“Rights and responsibilities must be given to each citizen or to no one.”
The MB is pushing for a civil War to test the principle of the nation’s unity and commitment to equality before the law and challenge the Constitution.
Thus the need for equal protection of laws is a fundamental concept of democratic
Citizenship coupled with it, each of us can participate in decisions that affect us and our
Society and we each bear FULL responsibility for the choices we make. Without it, Egypt would have absurd enshrined draconian categories of citizenship, with some members of society enjoying greater rights and power than others.
For some unknown reason, the NGO’s, Amnesty, Media and the like have either overlooked or rejected to note, “There is a duty and responsibilities for all citizens to fully respect and comply with the law. In doing so, they have acted towards the demise that all men and women are created equal.
Yet again the media is in frenzy, a wash with reports about the mass arrests of the Muslim Brotherhood. Even the Einstein’s at Amnesty International have thrown their hat into the ring by releasing an official statement condemning the government.
To the ill informed reader, and on face value, it would appear President Mubarak is a ruthless power hungry dictator determined to hold on to power.
Reality is, Mubarak does not need to put the boot into the Brotherhood, irrespective of clamp downs the NDP will regain power with its hands down. The very best the brotherhood have ever achieved is 88 seats (20%) of parliament.
However once the dust kicked up by the ill informed media vultures settles, they need to be reminded there is infact a serious and critical principal of society at Jeopardy.
I hope the good people at amnesty are reading this.
This principal is called “the rule of law”. The rule of law is the backbone and core of any civilised nation.
This principal commences with the notion that “All men are created equal”. Immediately following from that is the interconnecting principal that “No State or governance shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the Equal protection of the laws.”
At the same time, there is a reciprocal obligation that requires, “All citizens, groups, entities and organisations to be subject to the same set of laws, and requires full respect and compliance with those laws”.
The Government of the day has a lawful duty to ensure that, “every citizen complies with enacted laws”.
If necessary they must deploy the necessary resources to ensure civil order is not challenged or disrupted.
There after the judiciary has a responsibility to effectively deal with alleged breaches of the law”.
I will, not mince words, the media seems to have overlooked the fact that “The Muslim brothers consider they are immune and exempt from compliance with the specific laws”.
How did the media overlook this fact?
The Middle East is a unique basket of fish. The Muslim brotherhood is faithful adherents to a mixture of Islamic and Arabic culture. The brotherhood seems to be suffering “Arab honour”, intermingled with Arab rejectionist and intransigence.
This prevents the brotherhood from accepting any blame for their mass arrests nor acknowledging they like are every citizen are required to comply with the rule of law.
Arab honour impels them to seek domination. Failure to dominate dishonours them. Accepting responsibility is an anathema to their honour.
Having said that, what laws could the MB have possibly broken?
1 They are banned.
2 They run for elections as independents despite been banned from engaging in politics.
3 They use religious slogans “Islam is the solution”
4 They hold rallies and demonstrations without permits.
5 They refuse to follow lawful orders by the security forces
6 They disrupt business, traffic and cause civil unrest.
7 They ignore laws prohibiting personal attacks of other candidates.
8 They entice Mubarak by stepping, spitting and then burning a large colour poster of him.
According to Amnesty International the Mubarak Regime should just sit back do nothing and allow the Brotherhood to run wild with their defiance and extremist ideology. Amnesty need to remember this is not a one off event; the Mb antics have been repeated almost on a daily basis for 2 months.
By Amnesty’s standard and the ill informed bias media, the regime should allow the MB to set the dangerous precedent of anarchy. Citizens break the laws and no impunity is forthcoming. What a ridiculous suggestion. NO ONE is above the law of the land. The repeated provocative actions of the Brotherhood are deliberate and wilful. The regime has a duty and moral responsibility to enforce the law of the land and maintain civil order.
The crux of the problem is not the regime it is the belligerent defiance of the brotherhood to act as they like and ignore laws.
To add insult to injury, The MB is desperate to create an Islamic state at the expense of all non Muslims in Egypt. Even more horrendous, is the notion all men are equal will be immediately dismissed; social or economic equality will be based on religion.
The MB agenda will deny an equal opportunity for people to make the most of their abilities, talents and to stand equal before the law. The notion of equality as an essential part of democracy will be thrown out the door, and discrimination based on religion, will become even more predominate, than it is today.
“Rights and responsibilities must be given to each citizen or to no one.”
The MB is pushing for a civil War to test the principle of the nation’s unity and commitment to equality before the law and challenge the Constitution.
“I think that democratic peoples have a natural taste for liberty. Left to themselves, they
seek it out, love it, and suffer if deprived of it. For equality, however, they feel an ardent,
insatiable, eternal, invincible passion. They want equality in liberty.”
—Alexis de Tocqueville,
Thus the need for equal protection of laws is a fundamental concept of democratic
Citizenship coupled with it, each of us can participate in decisions that affect us and our
Society and we each bear FULL responsibility for the choices we make. Without it, Egypt would have absurd enshrined draconian categories of citizenship, with some members of society enjoying greater rights and power than others.
For some unknown reason, the NGO’s, Amnesty, Media and the like have either overlooked or rejected to note, “There is a duty and responsibilities for all citizens to fully respect and comply with the law. In doing so, they have acted towards the demise that all men and women are created equal.
Thus does Amnesty consider “every law should apply to everyone in the country, or should some people or groups be exempt?
Thus do the media, Amnesty, and human rights organisations consider “every law should apply to everyone in the country, or should some people or groups be exempt?